No author could complete a book without a small army of helpful individuals. Im deeply indebted to the whole Missing Manual team, especially my editor Nan Barber, who never seemed fazed by the shifting sands of HTML5; and expert tech reviewers Shelley Powers and Darrell Heath, who helped spot rogue errors and offered consistently good advice. And, as always, Im also deeply indebted to numerous others whove toiled behind the scenes indexing pages, drawing figures, and proofreading the final copy.
Finally, for the parts of my life that exist outside this book, Id like to thank all my family members. They include my parents, Nora and Paul; my extended parents, Razia and Hamid; my wife, Faria; and my daughters, Maya, Brenna, and Aisha. Thanks, everyone!
The Missing Manual Series
Missing Manuals are witty, superbly written guides to computer products that dont come with printed manuals (which is just about all of them). Each book features a handcrafted index; cross-references to specific pages (not just chapters); and RepKover, a detached-spine binding that lets the book lie perfectly flat without the assistance of weights or cinder blocks.
Recent and upcoming titles include:
Access 2013: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald
Adobe Edge Animate: The Missing Manual by Chris Grover
Buying a Home: The Missing Manual by Nancy Conner
Creating a Website: The Missing Manual, Third Edition by Matthew MacDonald
CSS3: The Missing Manual, Third Edition by David Sawyer McFarland
David Pogues Digital Photography: The Missing Manual by David Pogue
Dreamweaver CS6: The Missing Manual by David Sawyer McFarland
Dreamweaver CC: The Missing Manual by David Sawyer McFarland and Chris Grover
Excel 2013: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald
FileMaker Pro 12: The Missing Manual by Susan Prosser and Stuart Gripman
Flash CS6: The Missing Manual by Chris Grover
Galaxy Tab: The Missing Manual by Preston Gralla
Google+: The Missing Manual by Kevin Purdy
iMovie 11 & iDVD: The Missing Manual by David Pogue and Aaron Miller
iPad: The Missing Manual, Sixth Edition by J.D. Biersdorfer
iPhone: The Missing Manual, Fifth Edition by David Pogue
iPhone App Development: The Missing Manual by Craig Hockenberry
iPhoto 11: The Missing Manual by David Pogue and Lesa Snider
iPod: The Missing Manual, Eleventh Edition by J.D. Biersdorfer and David Pogue
JavaScript & jQuery: The Missing Manual, Second Edition by David Sawyer McFarland
Kindle Fire HD: The Missing Manual by Peter Meyers
Living Green: The Missing Manual by Nancy Conner
Microsoft Project 2013: The Missing Manual by Bonnie Biafore
Motorola Xoom: The Missing Manual by Preston Gralla
Netbooks: The Missing Manual by J.D. Biersdorfer
NOOK HD: The Missing Manual by Preston Gralla
Office 2011 for Macintosh: The Missing Manual by Chris Grover
Office 2013: The Missing Manual by Nancy Conner and Matthew MacDonald
OS X Mountain Lion: The Missing Manual by David Pogue
OS X Mavericks: The Missing Manual by David Pogue
Personal Investing: The Missing Manual by Bonnie Biafore
Photoshop CS6: The Missing Manual by Lesa Snider
Photoshop CC: The Missing Manual by Lesa Snider
Photoshop Elements 12: The Missing Manual by Barbara Brundage
PHP & MySQL: The Missing Manual, Second Edition by Brett McLaughlin
QuickBooks 2013: The Missing Manual by Bonnie Biafore
Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Mountain Lion Edition by David Pogue
Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Mavericks Edition by David Pogue
Windows 8.1: The Missing Manual by David Pogue
WordPress: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald
Your Body: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald
Your Brain: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald
Your Money: The Missing Manual by J.D. Roth
For a full list of all Missing Manuals in print, go to www.missingmanuals.com/library.html.
Introduction
At first glance, you might assume that HTML5 is the fifth version of the HTML web pagewriting language. But the real story is a whole lot messier.